Donb011
ArboristSite Member
Joncutter G3800.
I bought this little saw because I was curious. I make dirtbike trails and use a lot of small saws. I run them for 2-4 hours strait on the weekends. I've been trying out different saws looking for what works the best for me. So far have or had the following. Echo CS-310 and 352. Stihl 017, MS193 and MS211. Husqvarna 36 and 435 snd recently s Makita EA3500. Untill the Makita EA3500 I bought I wasnt real happy with the sub 40cc saws. For the price I figured what the heck let's try one more. The general build looks good but the fit and finish is a little off. The air filter cover just doesn't sit right and there's a couple sharp edges. Overall build doesn't look to far off the others.
Performance wise it was pretty weak even for a 37cc saw. After looking at the pin hole size exhaust I seen why. Time for a muffler mod. The muffler is a rolled edge design and doesn't come apart. There is a center baffle with a pencil size hole no cat. I was able to drill several small holes through the baffle from the exhaust port. Then from the front open up the exhaust hole to about a 1/2" hole. With a little carb adjustment it was a completely different saw. Now it has some power. It's starts up fast hot or cold and idles steady with fast pickup. Power wise it would beat the Echo CS-352. I ran the 352 over so it's not available to test. It had a mm also. Chain speed is good. It revs up fast and is really smooth. It's going to work good for the small stuff. RPM wise it's right there with the Makita but is down on power maybe just a tad. A 10 second cut with the Makita is 10.5s with the G3800. That was thru 10" maple. On small 4"Same and under I couldn't tell the difference. By the way exact same chain and bar used in the test cuts. Over all a good performing saw if you give it a muffler mod. Without it there's better choices. Oiler puts out great,more than enough for a 16" bar. AV works good too.Time will tell on how it holds up. I've put six tanks through it as of now and it's feeling stronger. The balance is also great. With the oil in the handle the weight is shifted back giving the a lighter feel. Fully gased and oiled 16" bar and chain it was 11.8lbs power only dry was 9.3. Just a tad heavier than the Echos but feels better cutting. It carries the weight good . Overall I like it better than the echos. So if you can do a muffler mod it's a good running little saw that will hold its own against the big boys. Hopefully the saw holds up.
I bought this little saw because I was curious. I make dirtbike trails and use a lot of small saws. I run them for 2-4 hours strait on the weekends. I've been trying out different saws looking for what works the best for me. So far have or had the following. Echo CS-310 and 352. Stihl 017, MS193 and MS211. Husqvarna 36 and 435 snd recently s Makita EA3500. Untill the Makita EA3500 I bought I wasnt real happy with the sub 40cc saws. For the price I figured what the heck let's try one more. The general build looks good but the fit and finish is a little off. The air filter cover just doesn't sit right and there's a couple sharp edges. Overall build doesn't look to far off the others.
Performance wise it was pretty weak even for a 37cc saw. After looking at the pin hole size exhaust I seen why. Time for a muffler mod. The muffler is a rolled edge design and doesn't come apart. There is a center baffle with a pencil size hole no cat. I was able to drill several small holes through the baffle from the exhaust port. Then from the front open up the exhaust hole to about a 1/2" hole. With a little carb adjustment it was a completely different saw. Now it has some power. It's starts up fast hot or cold and idles steady with fast pickup. Power wise it would beat the Echo CS-352. I ran the 352 over so it's not available to test. It had a mm also. Chain speed is good. It revs up fast and is really smooth. It's going to work good for the small stuff. RPM wise it's right there with the Makita but is down on power maybe just a tad. A 10 second cut with the Makita is 10.5s with the G3800. That was thru 10" maple. On small 4"Same and under I couldn't tell the difference. By the way exact same chain and bar used in the test cuts. Over all a good performing saw if you give it a muffler mod. Without it there's better choices. Oiler puts out great,more than enough for a 16" bar. AV works good too.Time will tell on how it holds up. I've put six tanks through it as of now and it's feeling stronger. The balance is also great. With the oil in the handle the weight is shifted back giving the a lighter feel. Fully gased and oiled 16" bar and chain it was 11.8lbs power only dry was 9.3. Just a tad heavier than the Echos but feels better cutting. It carries the weight good . Overall I like it better than the echos. So if you can do a muffler mod it's a good running little saw that will hold its own against the big boys. Hopefully the saw holds up.